LINCOLN
Two months later
Lincoln peeped around the huge boxes he was carrying and frowned. “Why are you emptyhanded?” he complained. “What happened to all that women’s lib shit?”
“Please,” Donna scoffed. “I only care about that in the workplace. Besides, you know I just got my nails done.”
Lincoln hit her with a blank stare. One minute, she was a hardcore tomboy, boxing and drinking men under a table. Then, the next minute, she tried to pull the girly girl on him. Donatella was whoever she needed to be when she needed to be.
“Whaaat?” she screeched with a playful grin.
“Ring the bell, lady.”
“Yeah, let’s get you some help with all that,” she teased, ringing the bell.
Lincoln juggled the packages without help from Donatella until Bella finally opened the door. Her eyes grew wide.
“Oooh, what did you do, buy the whole store?” she squealed.
“Do you plan on letting us in?”
“Of course, come on in.” She opened the door wider and stepped to the side. “Donna, why you ain’t helping him? Gimme one of these boxes.”
Bella grabbed two boxes from the top of the pile and carried them inside. He greeted other guests as he followed her to the dining room table where she placed them next to the other gifts. Lucas walked over with a wide grin.
“It’s a beautiful day for miracles, Brother.”
“Luc, what are you talking about?”
“Bella and Victoria, working together to throw this baby shower for Taylor.”
“Why is that a miracle?”
“You’re kidding, right?” Lucas asked with a furrowed brow. “You do know they don’t like each other, right?”
“How would I know that?” he asked with a squint. “I don’t hang out with the women. Why do you know that?”
“It’s common knowledge.”
“Why don’t they like each other?” he asked, but he really didn’t care.
“I’m not sure. I heard it was because Bella didn’t like the way Victoria treated Donna when they were a couple.”
Lincoln tilted his head, studying his brother to see if he was joking. It didn’t seem so.
“Donna and Victoria were a couple? Victoria Storm?”
“Yep. You didn’t know? Do you guys actually talk to each other?”
“We don’t talk about past lovers.”
“Do you even remember the names of any of your past lovers?” Lucas asked through laughter. “Seriously, I heard they were together for a while.”
Lincoln frowned. “Listen to yourself, ‘I heard.’You’re a woman,” he chuckled as he turned to walk away. He didn’t get far because Lucas grabbed his arm. He grimaced at the death grip his brother had on his limb. He was trying to get to Donatella so he could get more details about the fling. Even though he wouldn’t admit it to Lucas, he did wonder why she never mentioned a relationship with Victoria. He knew she’d had experiences with other women, but relationships were different.
“Wait, I wanna talk to you about something,” Lucas whispered conspiratorially.
Lincoln sighed. He supposed he could talk to her about it later.
